Des Moines City Council approves big growth for botanical center

The Des Moines Botanical Center will grow next year to feature new outdoor seasonal gardens, a tree-lined walkway and a botany lab following City Council approval this week.

The botanical reboot involves a new name, “The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden,” one shared with the nonprofit group that will assume the center’s lease and oversee the expected $11.6 million in renovations. Also included in the makeover are a new cafe, an event lawn for weddings and festivals and a reworked parking lot.

The outdoor enchancements will stretch the center’s downtown space west to the Des Moines River, replacing part of Robert D. Ray Drive and relocating an extent of the John Pat Dorrian recreation trail.

Botanical Garden President Stephanie Jutila expects construction to begin in January 2013 and finish in the spring of 2014, with the center closing during the summer of 2013. Preliminary work by the city will start this summer. The changes mark the first phase of continued development.

“This plan is not something we can do in a year. It’s not even something we can do in five years,” Jutila told The Des Moines Register in March.

A group of philanthropists and business leaders lead by J.C. “Buz” Brenton began efforts to revamp the center five years ago. The group continues to fundraise for project with $10.1 million collected, according to a statement.

The city of Des Moines, Des Moines Water Works and Bravo of Greater Des Moines committed nearly $6.5 million in additional funds over the next 10 years. Des Moines Water Works has operated the center since 2004.

See a conceptual design from the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden below: